Jörn Rausing

"Finn Rausing chose instead to take a more purely ownership role on the board. With his previous controller experience, he also took on the role of chairman of the board’s audit committee. Thereby, he gained a more in-depth insight into the corporate group’s financial position, transactions, and risk management. Both Jörn and Finn contributed with competence but also with the Rausing surname which opened doors to various types of decision-makers and strengthened the long relationships with larger customers and subcontractors."

"Another major concern when the Gad family took over was the competition from new plastic packaging systems. Tetra Pak had, in its appeals of the EU ruling, attempted to get the right to broaden the market concept to also include systems and materials other than paper, but without success. Plastic packaging for beverages such as the PET bottle had increasingly started to take market shares from the beginning of the 1990s. An intensive central development effort was initiated to meet the competitors. Initially, the company chose to focus on the development of plastic packaging and aimed for plastic materials to account for ten percent of the revenue by the year 2000. The idea behind starting to use plastic was that Tetra Pak would be able to more precisely tailor packaging according to customer preferences. In the mid-1990s, Tetra Pak began acquiring companies with expertise and products in plastic packaging, such as Dynaplast, Hitech, and Novembal. In addition, several strategic partnerships began with the Graham Manufacturing Group. Within the group, the development of proprietary products and technological solutions in plastics also commenced, with factories in various parts of the world. The CEO of Tetra Pak since 1994, responsible for the strategy, was Gunnar Brock. Jörn Rausing was also heavily involved, having been responsible for acquisitions and mergers since 1991."

"After IndustriKapital listed Alfa Laval on the stock market in 2002, the Rausing family became the largest shareholders and their share has gradually increased from about 18 percent to 29.1 percent in 2020. The family owns their share through the company Tetra Laval B.V. in the Netherlands. “We will continue to be committed owners as long as we own a significant part of the company,” Jörn Rausing stated in Affärsvärlden in 2012, while emphasizing that the ownership was not a strategic holding for the Tetra Laval group. Both Jörn and Finn Rausing sit on the board of Alfa Laval."

"The silence and closed nature appear to be the family’s wish. They have built a corporate culture where everyone has kept quiet externally, and the group has been structured to limit transparency. In this way, the family has managed to remain very private for a long time. The desire to remain unknown may have been influenced by a couple of events. Firstly, the death threat against Ruben in the 1960s. If he did not pay 50,000 kronor by a certain date – the money was to be sent away with carrier pigeons – he would be murdered. Secondly, in around 1985, the Danish police exposed the terrorist organization Blekingegade Gang’s plans to kidnap Jörn Rausing while he was studying in Lund and demand 25 million dollars in ransom."

"Meanwhile, Jörn Rausing has worked operationally in the conglomerate and has been responsible for mergers and acquisitions since 1991. This appears to have been a successful arrangement as Jörn, in his operational role, has been able to build up international relations, gain extensive oversight, and acquire comprehensive knowledge about market events and industries related to their operations for a long time. In this sense, Jörn has had the same opportunities as Hans Rausing had, to gradually grow into the ownership role. This expertise has not only strengthened the influence of the owning family in the conglomerate but has also been an asset to the entire board. At the same time, the setup with an operational role for Jörn has been a balancing act to avoid disturbing the various management teams’ operations. Although there was high turnover of CEOs from the beginning of the 1990s until 2006, Jörn seems to have managed this balancing act."